grower 101
this way. Drip tape is ideal when larger num- bers of a particular crop are being grown in 6-inch or larger material. The location of each emitter is marked on the drip tape to make positioning the pot under the tape quick and easy, which saves up to 20 percent in installa- tion labor over drip tubes. Drip tape also helps keep foliage dry, thus reducing the risk of disease.
6
Boom Irrigation
With boom irrigation systems, a grower
can apply water in precise amounts not possible with other systems. Precision of quantity is essential during propagation, whether from seed, plugs or
cuttings.
Booms provide quicker rooting, better growth, more uniform growth and less crop loss, mainly because the amount of water being delivered can be controlled and is being delivered more uniformly. Plug growers will irrigate with little else: Because of their small volume, plug cells dry out faster and require multiple water- ings each day. Consider a 512-cell plug tray with 0.14 fl uid ounces per cell empty. With just a few extra drops of more water in one cell than an adjacent cell, they will have drastically varying amounts of water and consequently their growth will not be uni- form. Booms help avoid this issue and are ideal for any greenhouse crop (grown edge to edge) that is not sensitive to wetting foliage. Growers can water just to the leach point to save on fertilizer costs, or they can water just the top soil profi le for newly transplanted material to save on water and fertilizer. Advanced boom controllers can change watering zones throughout a green- house, which saves growers water by not watering unplanted areas of a greenhouse. Boom controllers in the past have been diffi cult
criticized as
growers are fi nding a new generation of easy-to-use, touchscreen controllers
to program, but that
allow for quicker training and fast staff adoption. When choosing a boom system, be sure to interact with the systems under consideration to evaluate how well they will be used after their installation, and gather feedback from any staff that will be using the system. GPN
John Rowe is a consultant with McConkey Company. He can be reached at 253.299.7114 or
j.rowe@
mcconkeyco.com. For more information on the company, visit
www.mcconkey.com.
LearnMore
For more information related to this article, go to
www.gpnmag.com/lm.cfm/gp051004
write in 123
www.gpnmag.com
May 2010 GPN 29
800.634.9990
parsource2.com
2249 S. McDowell Ext. Petaluma CA 94954
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